Biffo In Hot Pants - Roller Derby Makes A Comeback

THEY have names like Hot Lips Cruelihan, Thigh-dal Wave and Miss Biffy. A training session is called a "scrimmage", a novice is "fresh meat" and manoeuvres include the "hip check", the "booty block" and the "grand slam".

The Faster They Skate, The Harder They Fall

It fell out of fashion in the late 1970s. Now roller derby has re-emerged in fresh form. Miki Perkins reports.

Editor's Letter

About time EG ran a cover image of a boy kitted out in skin-tight, hot pink, Lycra tights, wouldn't you say? Personally, I wonder why the ensemble (worn with panache by the Presets' Julian Hamilton) hasn't been rounded out with roller skates, a canary yellow feather boa and a trilby. But I could be alone in that thought, possibly with too much time on my hands. What we should, of course, be talking about is the Presets' sound - which thanks to commercial radio play and a BMW advertisement you're ...

Brit Settles Lawsuits

LAWYERS for Britney Spears and the Skechers footwear company have settled competing federal lawsuits over a deal for the pop star to market a line of roller skates and accessories, according to court documents.

Heather Has A Hold On The Parts Most Men Dream Of

She was a porn star on roller skates in Boogie Nights and in the second Austin Powers, the shagadelic Felicity Shagwell. In her latest release, she is once more a porn star, unintentionally supplying wisdom for a New Age sex guru.

Monsieur Baruk: A Great Artiste Or Silly As A Wheel?

Street performer Frank Baruk works a passing crowd like a kelpie herding sheep. In black leather and roller skates, and clinging to a small motorised wheel, he swishes up to people with frightening speed, twisting away at the very last moment with a flourish of balletic precision. Most people st

Cult Kings Of Cool

SOUTH PARK SBS, 8.30pm THIS animated half hour from the US has been described as "Peanuts on acid". Peanuts on everything but roller skates is more like it. And with a string of hip, recognisable influences to nod to and a string of hip, recognisable stars either directly involved (I

Rate Cuts Adds A Boost To Market Expectations

the agent: Phillip Kingston Gary Peer & Associates "PUT on your roller skates and fasten your seatbelts because if you thought the market was strong up until now, just wait for the impact of the latest interest-rate cut," auctioneer Phillip Kingston (right) said. No one was re

Hangin' Out For Space

They won't be seen and not heard like their parents may have been, and everywhere the Simpson generation congregate they are criticised. In the second part of a five-day Herald series, DEBRA JOPSON and LEONIE LAMONT at the issues teenagers care about. ROLLER skates, roller blades and skateboards

Patient Daly Irons Out Drives To Stay In Touch

Perth. Once regarded as a one-major wonder who had all the finesse of a circus bear on roller-skates, John Daly proved again yesterday that appearances can be deceptive. For the entire first round of the Heineken Classic, he kept his Killer Whale driver concealed beneath its furry cover, prefe

Brothels, Cats And Skates: Councils Want More Power

Local councils have called for increased power to shut brothels, register domestic cats and stop people roller-skating or skateboarding in public places. The delegates at the Local Government Association's annual conference yesterday also called on the State Government to allow council of

With 6,500 Km To Go, Roland's On A Roll

People have crossed the Australian outback in some strange ways, but few have been stranger than Roland Thomarat's project. The 33-year-old French swimming coach will leave from the Royal Easter Show tomorrow afternoon on roller skates, bound for Alice Springs and then Perth on a 6,500-ki

Testing On Trial

ON a Wednesday morning two weeks ago, 54,000 NSW children set off for school to take a test. They spent the morning reading about eagles, roller skates, lemonade and a baby galah. They also looked for mistakes in a story about a spotted creature. They coloured in pictures of coins and iceblocks,

Kouros Keeps It Humming Along

"He can't POSSIBLY be this far south ... ," snorted the Herald driver, "... not unless he's on roller skates." He was, and he wasn't. Just as our little Broadway posse was despairing of ever roping in the Greek ultra-marathon runner Yiannis Kouros, up ahead in th

Levity Prevails At Gay Mardi Gras

Half-naked, leather-wrapped men in cages, pink fairies on roller skates, giant muscle men, a huge blue elephant: Saturday night's mardi gras was the biggest yet. One gay man said: "This is our night to celebrate. We are here to show the straights that there are a lot of us, that we a